


A Force Untamed (Loki x Reader)

by SilentWanderlust



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Interrogation, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 02:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17235338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentWanderlust/pseuds/SilentWanderlust
Summary: On the day you should have died, you are met with a life-altering fate; an indescribable ability and a man equally peculiar. Your new life, forever changed, would be your sudden rise and resulting downfall.





	A Force Untamed (Loki x Reader)

With an ominous rumble, the clear blue sky tore open like a ripped stitch. The bright afternoon with its scorching sun and sweat-inducing shine slipped into a flurry of booming thunder and tepid rain. Shocks of wind whipped through the skyscrapers, molding rain into lethal spears.

Your hair collided with your face, obscuring your vision and knocking you off balance. Stumbling back into the street, you slipped in a murky mixture of water and car oil. A car screeched, hydroplaning to avoid your exposed head. Instead, you cracked your skull on the ribbed asphalt. With a yelp and a splash, you scurried back, pressing your spine into the door of an abandoned car. Eyes burning from contact with oil and blood, you wiped the pain from your lids, drawing a red streak across your face like a mask.

 The storm built, growing deafening with every each second. Wind and screams spun into a rickety conflagration of anger and sorrow. The only thing subduing a tornado was the buildings shattering its flight path.

 Breathing hard, your side thrummed with a dull aching with each shallow wheeze. You reached for your side, pressing shaking fingers through a cut in your jacket. Waves of red coursed down your fingers as you brought your hand to your line of vision. Leaning your head back and opening your arms, you let the rain wash the blood and oil sticking in patches to your skin. The soft hair on your arms stung as the water ripped away clumps of grime.

 As the world shattered around you, you laughed a throaty, painful laugh. Water invaded your clothing, weighting them down, straining the cut on your side. Material clung to you like a second layer of flesh. You shiver with a soul deep chill.

 A brilliant shock of light traveled over your head, colliding with the skyscraper behind you.  The storm filled with glass as the building’s windows shattered above. Unable to differentiate glass and rain, you tumbled down, guarding your head with your hands. Glass connected with your skin, forming thin, railroad tracks of cuts before embedding under your skin.

 As the barrage ended, a groaning began. The building swayed, uncomfortable in its foundation. You screamed, standing quickly enough to tug at your injured side. Onlookers rushed past, shoving you every direction like a top, vying to escape the building’s warpath.

 Your fingers tingled with energy or adrenaline, you weren’t sure. But the sensation built, wrapping through your veins like a thief in the sewers, rushing every direction. Spots of heated red prickled your skin, illuminating your tracks of veins. Your body lunged forward, throwing your arms to the side, bereft of your own decision to do so.

 Blinding light exploded like an atom bomb accompanied with the following mushroom cloud. Energy rippled through the street, tearing the ground like a jump rope as it moved. The falling building wobbled at the impact and reversed its course, headed the other direction, opposite your prone form in the street.

 Body swimming with energy, you fell to your knees. Shards of glass and obliterated asphalt lodged inside your legs as you landed.

 “What have we got here?” A smooth voice lingered at your side. Your neck cracked with each movement as you turned to look up him. “Did you level the entire square?”

 You groaned, recognizing the man with the regal stance and sly stare. For standing in the center of a raging, unnatural disaster, he remained unaffected. 

 Of course they were here.

 “Are you not Midgardian?” Loki pushed his tongue against his cheek and dragged his stare across your breaking form. “I’d love you to explain to me how you accomplished _this_.” He flicked his hands towards the destruction in your wake. 

 “What the hell’s a Midgardian?” Your warbling voice echoed through the square as you careened into darkness.

\---

The over sized room dwarfed your form in the presence of the Avengers. Your medical bed sat in the middle of the circular space like you sat stranded on an island, guarded by aliens and super-humans.

You sat observing, a fact that went unnoticed by none but disregarded by most. Pulling your legs to your chest, you wrapped your ankles for cover the location of your puffy scar. The cut was mended but the horrors of its inception were not. Shivering, you dragged the pads of your fingers through your hair, head jutting to the side as you ripped at the knots.

“Well, she’s not going to die,” Tony wiped his hands on his slacks. “So now what do we do with her?”

You rested your head on your knees, staring past the group. Loki stood at the door, a healthy distance from the crowd. Tracing his form from toe to eyes, you caught his gaze in a subdued haze. The sedatives pumping in your system sullied your mind, causing a buzz like tangled string in your mind’s eye. You should feel ashamed for staring, but your thoughts failed to piece together why. His mouth reformed into a wily smile, complimented with a wink before returning to eavesdropping on the conversation he was barred from.

“She’s fierce. My brother believes her so.” Thor looked to Loki who shook his head. “You said as much. Did you not?”

“You twist my words so ineloquently,” Loki lazed against wall, crossing his arms, his voice dripped distaste. “I didn’t so much as hint it.”

Loki looked to you with a budding challenge in his stare. Foot tapping, he raised a brow. He looked well at his leisure discussing you like you weren’t present. They all did. Though you could recognize him, Loki appeared fuzzy in your vision, like somebody smudged his profile, leaving the smallest identifying details.  

“It’s decided then,” Thor clenched his fist, disregarding Loki’s remarks all together. “We keep her.”

“You don’t  _ keep _ people, Thor,” Natasha chided, pursing her lips and wiping a wayward strand of hair from her eyes. “And maybe we should include her in this conversation. She’s sitting right there.”

Your arms tingled with a tension your gut sensed but mind could not. Every somber face locked on your sedated form with blurry eyes and lax muscles. Ignoring the group, you focused on Loki’s solitary figure.

“I see nothing out of the ordinary,” Loki stepped forward, biting the inside of his cheek.

With a jolt, you gasped for air like you’d resurfaced from lingering under the surface of the ocean. Clutching for your chest, your tugged at the fabric of your top, desperate to escape the sudden heat engulfing your body.

“What did I say?” Loki spun on the group. “Perfectly normal Midgardian behavior.”

“What did you do?” Natasha hissed, barely surpassing a whisper. She reached for Loki. Thor grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“He woke her up,” Tony glared at Loki. The lines circling his lips sank deeper. “Do you know how much sedative we had to pump in her system to get her to stop screaming.”

“Clearly not enough,” Loki stood at your bedside, assessing your current state. “She’s somehow awoken. Not by my doing, of course.”   

You shook, skin burning and freezing simultaneously. Wanting to scream, your mouth fell open but made no sound, instead it caught in your throat like a cage of bile block its path.

“I wasn’t just drugging her,” Tony hurried to the opposite side of the room. He fumbled for a syringe swimming with brilliant gold liquid, waving like a galaxy in a glass. “I was drugging whatever it is inside her. It wouldn’t shut up.”

As the group hurried to assist Tony, Loki turned his attention to you. Dragging a finger down your arm. He followed a line of energy buzzing through your veins. Numb and in pain, you settled into his touch.

The thumping in your chest soothed and feeling returned to your limbs. Blinking the remaining fogginess away, your mind awoke enough to turn your full attention to Loki.

“Thank you,” You mouthed, feeling the heaviness of exhaustion pulling at your limbs. The lazy graze of his fingers engulfed you with an entirely new and welcome feeling. Spurts of electricity followed his path, making you gasp.

Pressing his thumb into your pulse, Loki leaned in ever so slightly, focused on his task. Whatever he intended to accomplish, it provided you better control. Desperately needing to understand, you ran a the top of your nails across his knuckles, begging you could feel what he did.

“You can take your hands off her now,” Tony returned, pressing the base of the syringe until spurts of gilt liquid caught the light.

Loki met your eyes with a quizzical gaze. Gracefully pulling his hand away, he placed it securely behind his back. Your fingers slips from his hand, falling with a thud in your lap. Feeling a new numbness lingering in your chest, you turned your attention to the syringe, thankful for the distraction.

“Where are you from?” Tony leaned on the horizontal bars caging the bed to protect against falling patients. “And why did you blow up an entire square?”

Loki cleared his throat. “If I may-”

“No,” Tony waved the syringe in Loki’s direction like a charging weapon. “You absolutely may not.”

“Only a quick word,” Loki’s eyes narrowed. “It won’t take but five minutes.”

You pushed from the bed with shaking arms. Ripping the syringe from Tony’s hand, you heaved it across the room. Loki stepped out of its flight path as it arched. It shattered in a thousand pieces, painting the tile gold. “Don’t sedate me again.”

“That was my last batch,” Tony smacked his palms on his waist. The sound reverberated through the room.

“Is that a yes?” Loki smirked down at you, beckoning you in with the twinkle in his eyes. Your heart tumbled and you turned in surprise, shielding him from a clear view of the blood trickling from neck to face.

“We still have questions to ask her,” Tony looked to Natasha. He rested his chin in his palm and bat his eyes. “We can’t just let her go.”

“We’re not interrogating her,” Natasha ran clamped fingers over her brow.

If this wasn’t interrogating you, you were unsure what they were intending. Sedating you, locking you in a medical ward, and discussing your fate without your input felt Machiavellian.

“We’re not?” Tony jerked his head in exaggerated surprise. “Nobody told me that.”

“But,” Natasha clarified, “We need her to stay. She can’t just run around unchecked destroying city blocks.”

Your lids fell closed, the sinking weight of the pressure slinking through the room like an insidious force infecting the minds of everybody surrounding you. Leveling a city block felt unfathomable. The single memory you could see was a tumbling building and a demi-god; both equally perilous and you realized you preferred the skyscraper instead.  

“My brother may have some useful insight,” Thor stepped between Natasha and Tony. “Loki experienced her powers. Perhaps we ought to give him a chance.”

“I’ll talk to him,” You grit your teeth. The infighting and complete disregard for your opinion churned your stomach. “I don’t need to explain to him what happened.”

“Really?” Natasha released her shoulders, freeing them from her impeccable posture. Sitting herself at the edge of the bed, she leaned back on her hands and studied you. Every blink, every breath, and every rapid glance to Loki at your side.

“Yes,” You covered your eyes with your palm. The possibility of reliving the trauma they drugged you into forgetting sounded torturous and made you side ache in second-hand agony.

“Fine. But if he puts a finger on her-” Natasha flexed her hands, stretching them until the tendons strained.

“I’d advise against threatening me,” Loki shooed the Avengers from your bed and motioned towards the door. The pack stepped back like you’d shocked them. “Can you stand?”

Following the path of his veins up his neck, you memorized the curve of his jaw and the curl of his lip.

“Yes.”

“Excellent,” Loki offered you a hand which you accepted with quaking fingers. The touch was cold against your burning, reddened skin. But the softness of his palm felt angelic compared to the rough outer coat of cuts on your own.

He pulled you effortlessly from the bed. You landed weightlessly on the metal flooring, hardly recognizing that you’d moved at all. The chilly tile below stung your bare feet, catching the divets between your toes.

The instant you touched the ground, Loki dropped his peculiarly strong hold and motioned for you to lead him out the door. He remained unchanged and disinterested, but the storm in his eyes relayed a differing story. Like a captain stuck at sea, you drowned in the hurricane.

Limbs aching and popping uncomfortably, you stalked towards the over sized double doors. Sweat slicked your limbs, molding clothing and skin indistinguishably. The itch make you squirm to find a comfortable angle.

Cognizant of Loki’s presence, but unable to hear his footfall, you embraced the prickling at the base of your neck. His focus charred the hairs on your neck like a candle dripping wax; sporadic drops of heat igniting into agreeable discomfort.

The hall was deserted, silent as the aftermath of a battlefield. All you heard of Loki was the even breath of a man in control. A hunter looming over his prey; a god ruling over man.

“I know what you’re doing,” Your voice came uneven, crackling with disuse. Over your shoulder, Loki remained outside your line of vision. “Are you the real interrogator? Are you meant to put me on edge?”

You gasped as Loki grabbed your wrist hanging limp at your side. Tugging hard, he flipped you to face him. His hand slid down the cylinder of your wrist, forcing your palm towards the florescent lights above.

“You flatter me. Though, you wouldn’t say so if it weren’t working, would you?” Loki ran the a finger over the rigid lines of your palms, tracing every individual marking like a map leading towards answers for which you didn’t know the questions. The cuts laticing your skin shone bright, an ever present reminder of your current predicament.

“If you have something to ask,” You grit your teeth, wrapping your hand around Loki’s exploring your palm, “ask it so I can get out of here.”  

“So eager to leave,” Loki leaned in, pulling your clawed fingers from his. “Do I unnerve you so deeply?”

Unnerve was too flippant a term. His presence sent you reeling like a misfired gun. You swallowed as his hair fell over his shoulders.

“Yes.” Lying remained futile. This man saw things you couldn’t fathom. A twitch of your lip or a jerk of your pupils would shatter the barrier from the truth.  

He scoffed, a sound soft enough to slip through your veins and lodge deep in you bones. Loki fanned his hands, placing them on your stomach, just above your healing cut. Shoving his foot between your legs, he urged you back against the wall, strumming you like a violin.

“Yes?” Loki wrapped his hands around your waist, sliding from your stomach to your hips. Pressure from his grip bit like a winter storm; ripples of pain surged towards your wound as he worked.

Loki rested his cheek above your ear. The broken hairs near your scalp buzzed towards his face. And then it spread. The burn of electricity from the city block tumbled at the edge of your consciousness, above your soul. It bloomed like a flower, bold and bright.  

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Loki pressed his palm into yours at your side, reaching the energy tumbling in circles under your skin. “I feel it, just under the surface.”

“You can?” You leaned the underside of your arm into his. Your entire body fell forward with the movement.

“I can,” Loki gripped hard to your waist, maintaining a space with your chest and his. He dragged his hands up to your your neck, pressing his thumb into your pulse; circling the delicate, protruding veins, mimicking the spin of the energy. “I can teach you to control it.” Loki’s voice was as sweet and venomous as a snake preparing to strike.

“Stop,” You rammed your hands into his chest, pushing him back with the force that landed you here in the first place. A small shock rocked the hall like the crack of a whip, shaking the walls like an explosion.

He swaggered back, arms wide, a wicked smile gloating. A look drew you closer. The floor shook as much as your hand and you reached out to him to meet palms. Your arms extended like wings, ready to fly.

“Loki,” Tony slammed the doors wide, sending them bouncing back with the strength of contact. “What did you do?” He stormed over and ripped Loki off you, shoving him aside.

You retreated and held your hands up in the air as if they held a gun to your head. Thor stood tall in the doorway, arms crossed, shoulders rolling back. His eyes jutted from you to his brother. Natasha bit her lip, assessing.

“It was me,” Your voice cracked as Tony turned on you. You looked to Loki for support you didn’t intent to receive. He stood wiping unseen dust from his jacket like your presence dissipated. “I did it. I caused that - that - whatever it was.”

“Excellent,” Tony swiped the hair on the side of his head. “Another problem child.”

“I’m sorry,” You wrapped your arms about yourself. “I can’t control it.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Tony scratched his ear, the weight on the hall lingering heavy over him. “Unfortunately, you’re not leaving. We can’t have you running around unchecked. You could blow up half the world before we caught you.”

“ _ I’m not a monster _ ,” A rumbling billowed below the floor as you hands shook with pent up fury. “So don’t you  _ dare _ treat me like one.”

Your voice toppled down to a dangerous whisper and you looked to Loki. The curve of his lip and raised brow was enough to tell you the depth of his enjoyment. He’d been the willing interrogator. They’d played you like a game of checkers. Every one of them with their perfect rendition of good cop, bad cop.

“You’re not a monster,” Natasha rushed forward, wrapping her arms over your neck, speaking low. “We just need to teach you to manage it. Just work with us. We’ll help. I promise.”

“Personally, I would love to teach her,” Loki clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his toes.

“That might not be the best idea,” Natasha pat your shoulders as she moved away, still watching you intently for signs of another outburst threatening the structural integrity of the building.

“No,” You grabbed her arm. “It has to be Loki.”

Loki’s mouth fell open in a triumphant smile, unbelieving of his own luck. He nodded to Tony and joined you with Natasha.

“Only since the lady insists,” Loki slipped a hand on your lower back, clutching the fabric of your jacket between his knuckles. Pressing his thumb into your spine, Loki ran it to your tailbone and back up. You spoke to alleviate the shiver of his touch.

“He can feel it and sense it,” You melted into Loki’s touch and cursed yourself for it. His exploring fingers hadn’t stopped but you couldn’t back down. He was testing you. “I think he can help me understand.”

“Excellent,” Loki dropped his hold on you. “It’s all settled. I’ll teach her everything she needs to know.”

“One chance,” Tony waved a warning finger in Loki’s eyes. A physical representation of his single opportunity.

“Come on,” Natasha said. “Sleep now. You look exhausted.”

The group followed you and Natasha down the hall. But when you stole a rapid glace back, Loki stood where he’d been, unmoving, fixated on nothing but you.

\--- 

You sat across from Loki, legs bouncing as he watched you. A dozen times you’d found yourself in the scenario. It always began the same and concluded in disaster.

The comfy chair urged you to release your back and relax but Loki’s gaze shocked your spine straight. His long legs tangled in yours like a clasped zipper as he leaned towards you.

Frigid air blasted the room, sending the tips of your hair in every direction, but failed dimming the heat behind your neck and red glittering like a lighthouse on your cheeks. You could stare with a concrete facade though your biology gave you away.

“If you think you’re communicating in my head, you’re not,” You rubbed your hands against your knees, feeling the static of jean particles rise against your fingertips. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Loki scoffed and looked past you. “Diverting the conversation will gain you nothing.”

“What conversation?” You slumped back in the chair, shoving your hands over your eyes. Weary with sleep, your dry eyes inflamed at the touch. “You’ve said nothing the past few minutes.”

Loki groaned as he gripped your wrist, pulling you back towards him. His breath was warm as he whispered near your lips. “I’m listening.”

“To what?” You breathed, throat dry with exhaustion and something else entirely. Your crinkling voice only grew with every failed attempt to clear your throat.

“You,” Loki guided your palm to your heart. Placing his hand over yours, he separated your fingers, pushing them against your chest. His other hand found your knee and you gasped at his touch. If he noticed, he made no mention of your sudden outburst. “Do you hear it? Or feel it?” “I just feel my heart,” You descended into his touch as his gaze traced from your heart to your eyes. You flicked your gaze between his, heart flurrying with each movement. “Besides, it’s erratic and unrestrained. I can’t control it.”

“You can and you will,” Loki wrapped your fingers with him, encasing them in a chilly cage. You clutched at his wrist quickly enough to make him blink in surprise. “Breathe and listen.” He commanded with the weight of a lullaby. “Do you feel something below it, pulsing?”

“Yes,” Your mouth fell limp at the realization. A beating like a second heart spun under the surface; a den of snakes coiling each other, forming an intricate, interconnected tapestry. You squeezed his wrist and dropped your hold. “Just there below.” 

“Good. Tell me more,” Loki dragged your hand up your neck, pushing into your skin, never breaking his hold. The rapid pulse of your heart reappeared in your neck, ramming against your hand. And below it, something more. “Explain it to me.”

“It feels - alive,” You pressed your nails into your neck, ready to rip the skin. The energy responded, pushing back against the threat of pain. A lick of energy hit your intertwined hands. “It’s wants to fight back.”

Loki coaxed your hand across your chest, fingers catching on your collar bones as you proceeded. When your hands hit your shoulder, he squeezed the soft spot at your neck and you squirmed, readjusting in the chair. Moving down your arm, he headed towards your palm.

The energy slithered down the path, following like an impatient lion stalking its prey.

“It’s following,” You jolted your hands back and forth, up and down your arm like scratching a record. Each time it followed, flipping before you registered you’d made the decision to move. “Are you doing this?”

Loki chuckled. “Of course not.”

“But you would if you could?” The chill in the room extinguished. Beads of sweat slipped down your back, landing uncomfortable at the base of your spine.

“Me?” Loki leaned in enough that his words were barely a breath. “Never.”

You tugged on your ensnared fingers but he held tight. “Loki?”

“Yes, love?”

He waited for no response, instead pressing his lips to yours. You dropped your hold in shock, falling back in the chair. Loki wrapped his hands around your waist, pulling you hard against him as he stood. You came with him like you weighed nothing at all as he guided you. Wandering fingers slipped under your top and you jolted alive, out of your trance enough to grip his shoulders for support.

“What are you doing?” You heaved as he kissed down your jaw, landing at the spot between your neck and ear.

He hummed. Walking you back against the wall, he pressed himself against you, mirroring the day he interrogated you.

“I assumed it was self-explanatory,” Loki kissed you again, pulling the air from your lungs as he caught you mid-breath. “Ought I explain further?”

\---   

“Oh no you don’t. I’ll nail you to the floor if I must,” Loki struggled against you as you kicked in his arms. If you flailed harder, you were sure he’d rip you in half with his hold on your waist.

Pristine gear hung half-applied, dragging across the floor collecting dust as Loki pulled you from the door after the other Avengers. Your feet flew in the air as he held you up and the gear wrapped inelloquently around your knees. “If it means you’re safe, I’ll do it.”

The crisp afternoon sun burned through the windows, blinding you, forming prickles of white behind your eyes. Though you couldn’t see Loki, you knew he was furious.

“I’ll shatter the nails,” You heaved forward, grabbing the door frame leading to your room, “then level the tower.”

Loki ripped you from the frame, spinning you in his arms so your nose grazed his as you spun. Pressing tight into your sides, he moved back into the room, farther and farther from your exit lest you make another escape attempt.

“As much as I commend your penchant for destruction, I don’t advise it.” Loki pressed you against him, fingers running up you back as your feet dangled uncomfortably.

“You can’t stop me,” Your fingers vibrated with energy as you slipped your palms under his jacket, against his chest. Threatening him wasn’t wise but it was effective, speaking the language he knew so well.

“Don’t turn it against me, love,” Loki cautioned.

“Don’t patronize me,” You pressed your eyes closed, soothing the energy threatening to rip free. The surge of energy slipped through your veins, expanding, traveling the course of your arms. A fire licked your skin as it moved. Spurts of burning red licked your skin as the energy bounced through you.

“Breathe. You can control it,” Loki placed you at the edge of your bed, caging you in with his arms. “Don’t let it win. You’re better than that.”

“I want to help,” You pushed half-heartedly against his chest with your shoulder. With a huff, you tossed your half-worn jacket aside. It landed in a chair, making it rock before spinning and falling back in place.  

“I implore you not to go. If you lose control, I may not be there to-” His words fell away at your melancholy.

“To do this,” You motioned between yourselves. “But there will be a day when you aren’t and I need to use my - whatever it is.”  

“I try not to think of that day,” Loki kissed your forehead and flipped you over onto the bed. “Stay here.”

“While you go?” You pulled the bedspread from under you as searing holes burned in the cotton. The ruined blankets fluttered the ground in rags. “You expect me to sit like a coward and not help them?”

“You’ll burn the city to the ground,” Loki pointed to the floor where the bedspread lay, holes still growing as it burned like a slip of paper set afire. “And yourself in the process.”

“I’ll gladly burn,” You ran your thumb across the gaunt bags below his eyes. “As long as I burn with you.”   

“Then your death wish is my command,” Loki offered his hands and you gaped at your luck.

With an unbelieving laugh, you grabbed his hands and found yourself bound; your wrist cuffed together. You yelped as your body warmed the cuffs, molding skin and metal. It moved with you, bits of metal spinning around the contraption, waiting to fill any weak spot.

“Bastard,” You struggled, feeling the tear of your skin under the hold of the thick, heavy cuffs.  

“Stop struggling unless you want to melt your skin,” Loki guided you into a kiss before setting you as the edge of the bed. “You don’t die today.”

“I’ll get you back for this, God of Mischief,” You grappled with the cuffs, maintaining eye contact, rage palpable in your stare. He couldn’t decide for you whether you threw yourself in danger. You should have listened to your mother as a child, cautioning you to separate work and play. You get attached. And when you get attached, the team crumbles.

“I adore you, too,” Loki slammed the door, abandoning you, stuck waiting to see if he survived the day.

\---

“Don’t you dare do this!” You screamed into the howling wind. “I’m not dying today, or tomorrow.” A fiery cut coursed through the flesh of your arm, metal dotting your skin where a weapon shattered against the backlash from the energy inside you.

“Not today, or tomorrow,” Loki sounded irrationally calm. His jaw set tight and his eye flamed but his body relaxed the longer he spoke. “But eventually you will die and I will be left with  _ nothing _ .”

“So you choose nothing now?” You clutched your arm, pressing your fingers into your skin to slow the bleeding. The murky redness mixed with dirt, dripped from your fingers onto the asphalt. An ever present reminder of everything falling apart. “You leave everything you love so you can forget it ever happened.”

The sky was falling. Monstrous creatures screaming and thrashing as they plummeted towards earth.

“It doesn’t matter when. It was destined to occur eventually. Look at what happens to you around me?” Loki caught you as you wavered on your feet, body tumbling to the side. “You’re mortal. Give it a hundred years and it’s over.”

“A hundred years is a long time,” You pressed your head into his chest, stumbling as a creature splattered beside you, spraying your in noxious green waste. Your hair clumped, braiding itself in knots of alien blood and your armor sizzled from the fumes the offending creature created.

“That’s the problem!” Loki placed you on the ground, a safe distance from the falling aliens, under the awning of a building. He knelt but still towered above as you looked up from the ground. Chest heaving, he bent to press his blood-stained forehead into yours. “To you it’s a long time. To me it’s a blink and it’s gone. But if I remain, your death comes sooner.”

“There’s more than one way to die, Loki,” You circled his neck with your good arm, dragging him into a torturous kiss, begging him with every breath to change his mind. “I die if you stay, but I die if you leave. I’ll take a physical death without question. This death I will not.”

“You must,” Loki pulled back, eyes darkening with an unfamiliarity you’d never encountered.

“No,” You threw yourself back in his arms, your wound screaming for attention as it boiled under the strain. Your fingers clutched tight to his sweat-riddled skin. “I love you.  _ Please _ .”

Bodies still rained around you, lurching to the ground, mixing the blood of various species. They moved as if in slow motion as your heart and mind slowed.

“Do you not-” You heaved a wracking sob, succumbing to the blurriness of a fever rising above safe levels. Your vision became circular, the outsides of your eyes filling with colorless static.

“Yes,” Loki pulled your arms from him, laying you carefully on the ground.

“ _ Liar, _ ” You hissed as your vision became pops of color but not definitive shapes.

“I never claimed otherwise,” Loki stood, stepping back slowly as darkness burst into your vision. He mouthed something to you but you heard nothing as you stumbled over the cliff of darkness.

Dying twice may not be such a cruelty.

With your last conscious thought, your feverish mind made a single connection.

_ Loki. _

And everything went red.


End file.
